Three Years Ago Today...

About this time three years ago today, my family and all of the bridesmaids had made their way into the church or to the lobby of the church to make their processions, and I was left alone in the bride's room. All fell quiet, and I looked in the mirror and realized, "Wow! I'm a bride!" The moment I'd been dreaming about for much of my life was here. And then just like that, someone came and told me it was time!

I walked down the aisle, and we made our vows to one another!

This morning when I entered my kitchen, my beloved had left me three beautiful bouquets of roses to symbolize our three years together.

Honey, the past three years with you have been a joy and delight! Thank you for being such a wonderful husband. Saying "yes" to your marriage proposal was one of the easiest questions I've ever had to answer! And I'm so thankful that with each passing year I continue to realize that it was also one of the wisest decisions I've ever made. I love you with all my heart!

Simply Breathtaking Talent!

In case you missed the Tony Awards on Sunday, Lea Michele and Matthew Morrison from GLEE performed with such panache and brilliance and apparent ease, it would simply be a crime for me not to share it here on my blog.

Lea Michele (who is very nearly Barbra Streisand II) performs one of my favorite Streisand songs, "Don't Rain on my Parade". Her performance brought me to tears and makes me thank God for allowing so much beauty in the world. Talent like hers is truly inspiring. Enjoy:

Girl Meets Flat Iron

I've been meaning to do this silly post since my South Carolina girls' weekend in early May. My bestie Anne has these naturally curly locks. They're gorgeous and so is she!

Before:

When we were in S.C., our other friend May and I were flat ironing our hair, and Anne commented that she had never straightened her hair (and after all, why would you when you have locks like hers!) Well, May and I took turns with the flat iron (curls like Anne's are a group effort to tame), and--drum roll please..........

After:

It took all of us (including Anne) a little while to get used to the change. She could totally have an alter ego, huh?

Dirty Little Secret

A couple of months ago, Hubs and I decided to do a little yard work to pretty up our backyard, so we--and by we, I mean he (I gotta give credit where credit is due)--dug a lot of holes in our yard and planted a bunch of crape myrtles. They do really well here in the extreme Texas heat.

I thought that while we were at the nursery, it would be fun to buy a hanging plant to suspend from our bird feeder. They were gorgeous hot pink petunias that lasted about one week, and then they were completely dead. I wasn't sure if I over or under watered, but they were gone. And rather than heed my Mom's advice and return the plant to the nursery and ask for a new one, I decided to cut all of the shriveled blooms and leaves out of the hanging basket and replace them with some flowers that would never die. That's right, people, I bought fake ones and stuck them right in the same soil as the others!

Aren't they pretty? Even my mom told me they were beautiful, though, as soon as she found out they were fake, she rescinded her compliment. She doesn't do fake flowers. I, on the other hand, love looking at their loveliness when I wash dishes, and I feel smug knowing that it really doesn't matter if I remember to water them or not! It's a win-win.

Well, the other evening, as I was washing dishes and admiring my fake fleurs, I thought, "Wow! Those leaves look SO lifelike! And then this morning (while doing more dishes), I noticed some hot pink buds popping up through the falsies!

Dirty secret EXPOSED! Now what? Do I pull out the fakes and let the real ones live, or should fakery and reality live together in perfect harmony?

Happy Flag Day!

According to this Wikipedia article,

In the United States, Flag Day is celebrated on June 14. It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States, which happened that day by resolution of the Second Continental Congress in 1777.

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day; in August 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress.

One of the things I really like about our neighborhood is that many of the families fly American flags in their front yards on national holidays (even our Canadian neighbors! Go Canada!). When I was in junior high school, I used to LOVE being assigned the duty of raising and lowering the American and Texan flags at the beginning and end of the school day. Today, as I put our flag up, the same feeling of patriotism and American pride washed over me!

A Dream Realized

This weekend, Houston (along with several other U.S. cities) was part of the 48-Hour Film Project! Right here in Houston, sixty production teams had 48-Hours to write, shoot, edit, and turn in a completed short film. I was thrilled to be part of the acting ensemble for one of the teams!

Our production team, Moon Unit 9 Pictures, was headed by Michael Aschner. We had an amazing crew and a wonderful group of actors.

Every film made had to include the following elements:

Character: Sherman or Sharon Brown, recently unemployed

Prop: a book

Line of Dialogue: "There's a $2 service charge."

It was so cool to read our script for the first time and see how Michael wove those elements into the film.

Given the 48-Hour timeframe, the shooting was focused and intense! It was one of those days when it felt like only fifteen minutes had passed, and then I would realize it had actually been two hours! The awesome thing, though, is that when you are passionate about something, all of that focus and intensity feels like pure joy!

At one point, in a quiet moment when I was going from one shoot location to another, I had an awareness that I was living my dreams--that God, in His goodness, had realized one of my dreams! How sweet it is to receive a good and perfect gift from our Father!

He's doing that a lot lately! Thank You, GOD!

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17